Donald Wolfe said he would walk there from his apartment on West 50th Street in Manhattan — 38 steps to the elevator, 54 steps through the lobby, 75 steps down the block to the corner and 37 steps across Eighth Avenue. First he put the jug with the water on his wheelchair. His oxygen tank was already in place, on the back. Off he went, pushing the wheelchair, a transport device for the garden supplies if not, at the moment, the gardener. He was not shuffling. Not shambling. But not speedwalking, either. “We’re so dry right now,” said Mr. Wolfe,...

Conservative scribe Dinesh D’Souza has to perform a lot more community service for breaking campaign-finance laws than he thought, with a federal judge saying Monday that D’Souza has to do eight hours each week for the entire five years he’s on probation and not just the eight months he was confined to a halfway house. The judge also read aloud a report from a court-appointed psychologist who called D’Souza “arrogant” and “intolerant of others’ feelings.” Powerhouse defense attorney Ben Brafman was surprised when Manhattan federal court Judge Richard Berman clarified the sentence he handed down after D’Souza pleaded guilty last...

To assess the impact of community service on personal wellbeing in a mid-west church-based population a prospective survey was distributed evaluating self-reported community service, the perceived benefit of the service and its association to personal wellbeing. There were 309 participants. Those who served in some capacity had better scores on survey questions including: contentment, peace, joy, purpose and community acceptance, but not better self-perceived mental or physical health. Church going adults, who are serving in some capacity in their church or community, may demonstrate heightened personal wellbeing compared to those who are not assisting others.

Today in Texas, former prosecutor and judge Ken Anderson pled guilty to intentionally failing to disclose evidence in a case that sent an innocent man, Michael Morton, to prison for the murder of his wife. When trying the case as a prosecutor, Anderson possessed evidence that may have cleared Morton, including statements from the crime's only eyewitness that Morton wasn't the culprit. Anderson sat on this evidence, and then watched Morton get convicted. While Morton remained in prison for the next 25 years, Anderson's career flourished, and he eventually became a judge. In today's deal, Anderson pled to criminal contempt,...

Chelsea Clinton, who has played an increasingly prominent role in her family’s foundation, used a speech Monday to call for more community service opportunities for a younger generation and said she supports efforts that would allow more college graduates to reduce their student loan debt through volunteering. Clinton, 34, who serves as vice chair of the Clinton Foundation, spoke to about 5,000 people gathered for the “Service Unites” conference sponsored by the Points of Light Foundation, and also participated in a panel discussion on inspiring young people to become more involved. “It is in all of our interests to ensure...

So it seems daughters school is stressing "service hours" (volunteer hours) as the only way to get into a decent college. Daughter has high grades in every class, has a full course load, band, two varsity sports and a couple of clubs. More then I ever did and I went to a respectable institution of higher learning! And... Gasp... May even have to get a job in a year or so when she wants that car she keeps talking about! But no! Not enough! Now the school demands, and backs it up with college admissions material, that kids must have...

Later today, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate, and Robert Velasco, the acting CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, will announce a new partnership between FEMA and CNCS designed to strengthen the nation's ability to respond to and recover from disasters. They'll be joined by Cecilia Muñoz, the Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, and Walter Maddox, the mayor of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. You can watch live right here at 11:00 am ET.

The Jerusalem District Court sentenced David Mizrachi of Kiryat Arba to three months' community service for running over a terrorist who stabbed his wife. Mizrachi, 57, was convicted in June of serious assault as part of a plea bargain, and the sentence was handed down Tuesday. The incident took place at the gas station at the entrance to Kiryat Arba in November of 2009. The terrorist, Wasim Maswada, came to the Paz gas station armed with an axe and a knife. He entered the convenience store that Mizrachi ran along with his wife, Tamar, and stabbed Tamar in the neck...

Score one for the Coca-Cola Company. Diet Coke unseated Pepsi as the second most popular carbonated soft drink in 2010, according to data from Beverage Digest. -snip- The switch marks a sea change in the industry. According to John Sicher, the editor and publisher of Beverage Digest, Pepsi has held the second position "for decades." Sicher attributed the decline in Pepsi's market share to its Pepsi Refresh Project marketing campaign, which is focused on community service.

January is National Mentoring Month, and we can’t think of a better way to learn how you can make an impact through mentoring than attending one of our orientations. We’ve lined up dates and locations for our Orientation to Mentoring sessions in the Des Moines area throughout January. This one hour training is the first step for those who are interested in mentoring.During this orientation those who attend will receive: An overview of Serve Our Youth Network and our different opportunities for mentoring (Amachi, Informal Mentoring at Polk County Youth Services and Second Chance Juvenile Mentoring Initiative).An overview of mentoring...

January is National Mentoring Month, and we can’t think of a better way to learn how you can make an impact through mentoring than attending one of our orientations. We’ve lined up dates and locations for our Orientation to Mentoring sessions in the Des Moines area throughout January. This one hour training is the first step for those who are interested in mentoring.During this orientation those who attend will receive: An overview of Serve Our Youth Network and our different opportunities for mentoring (Amachi, Informal Mentoring at Polk County Youth Services and Second Chance Juvenile Mentoring Initiative).An overview of mentoring...

Here is another great joke (I sort of use the word loosely here...you'll see why) that was sent to me via email thats too good to not share: One day a florist went to a barber for a haircut. After the cut, he asked about his bill, and the barber replied,'I cannot accept money from you. I'm doing community service this week.' The florist was pleased and left the shop. When the barber went to open his shop the next morning, there was a thank you card and a dozen roses waiting for him at his door. Later, a...

A large billboard in a local Metro station cautions passersby to “Cover your cough” and “Wash your hands frequently” when you have a cold. Nearby, a sign in a bus shelter instructs citizens: “Do not cross street until bus has left.” These signs have been erected courtesy of “Mommy Government” to help you, the presumed adult-child citizen of the Infantilized Republic of America. It’s a picture of the most serious internal threat to America: the decline of self responsibility and its replacement with dependence on paternalistic government, namely, on handouts from other coerced individuals and on a nit-picking Napoleonic code...

First lady Michelle Obama thought about sending her daughters away to summer camp, she said recently, but instead decided on another program -- the "Camp Obama" world tour. "This has been such a, you know, busy year for them," she said, "We're having 'Camp Obama' and, you know, they're going to travel a little more with us, and we're going to do some historic things." It's not your everyday sleepaway camp, but a world-class adventure: This week, the first tweens have toured Rome's Coliseum and Russia's Kremlin -- exotic locations for sure, but the president said his daughters haven't skipped...

At a campaign rally in Colorado Springs last July, that former community organizer, Barack Obama, grandly told an enraptured audience: "We've got to have a civilian national security force that is just as powerful, just as strong, just as well funded" as the U.S. military. Now, understand, he wasn't talking about a "security" force in the sense of an armed militia. He was talking about a network of social service workers. When I first heard that, I wrote it off as a politician's extravagant, feel-good campaign rhetoric. After all, the Department of Defense includes about 3 million men and women...

We’ve all seen it. In our schools, our children’s schools, public meetings, television shows, leadership seminars, political speeches, and even in legislation supported by the President, the message is clear: we should all be doing community service. The fact is that the call to service is greater now than at any time in our country’s past, and the pressure to provide it even greater. The pressure to conform to the growing demand to volunteer your self, in body and bankbook, can be daunting. When confronted with a group of peers, all telling you how much you are needed, it can...

THE BRIEFING ROOM • THE BLOG Thursday, May 7th, 2009 at 5:10 pm Service, Coming to a Town Near You (White House Photo, 4/21/09, Samantha Appleton) A few weeks ago, President Obama signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act into law, ushering in a new era of service and volunteering for our nation. Facing unprecedented challenges, the President has asked all Americans to engage in service opportunities help create a better nation. The Corporation for National & Community Service was charged with dramatically expanding opportunities for Americans to serve, and in a sign of how seriously they are taking...

President Barack Obama is picking a Nike vice president to lead the federal agency that oversees the country's national service programs. Obama's selection of Maria Eitel comes Tuesday as the president plans to sign a bill to triple the size of AmeriCorps and expand other programs that the corporation administers. Eitel is nominated to be chief executive officer of the Corporation for National and Community Service, a job that requires Senate confirmation. Eitel is also the president of Nike Inc.'s charitable arm, the Nike Foundation. She served under President George H.W. Bush as deputy director of media relations and later...